Gakuen Babysitters – 10

It’s interesting to see a series like Gakuen Babysitters take on traditional anime tropes – the beach episode, Valentine’s Day, and now the culture festival. it seems an odd match, but then when you think about it this is a high school series, of a sort. The presence of the daycare residents is the wild card of course, and I confess I’ve never seen the bunkasai from the perspective of toddlers before. It’s an interesting twist on a very familiar theme – which is one of the many things this series does very well.

As we saw in last week’s preview, the motif of this culture festival project is going to be babies in vegetable costumes (as designed by Usaida-san). Given that the children aren’t all that great at walking even when they aren’t toting giant cabbages on their backs, it’s hardly a surprise that none of them seem to master the art of serving juice while costumed (the exception being Carrot Karin-chan, who’s rather adept at it). My favorite part of this sequence was Ryuuichi obediently putting on the giant corn cob Usaida had made for him without an ounce of protest (to think own good boy self be true).

Most of the visitors this time around are dads – and the fathers of the two girls are the most difficult to deal with. In fact Kumazuka-sensei has asked the boys to pose as girls because her husband is such a man-hater (and Midori-chan’s “mountain man” father isn’t much better). I thought this was a bit overblown to be honest, though it’s true that fathers of daughters can go a bit crazy with the overprotectiveness. That relationship – and where it’s eventually headed – isn’t an easy one for the average man to deal with.

Next up we see the kawaii factor amped up, impossible as that may seem, with the introduction of baby chicks to the mix (chix mix?). Kamitani-sensei (yes, Lads – that’s exactly where Hayato gets it from) stops by to inform the day care that the eggs in the science lab are going to hatch the next day, and the daycare kids are naturally amped up to see that (I think Ryuu may be the most amped up of any of them). I’m not so sure I would tell a group of toddlers that they get to see something really cool tomorrow, and the results are predictable – but a watched egg never hatches…

Or does it? Kotarou drags Ryuuichi to the lab bright and early the next morning, and sure enough his reward is to see the chicks emerge (exhausted) from their shells. It is true that Ryuu already has that whole imprint thing with the daycare, so it’s probably better that it was Kotarou who got the honors this time. And he immediately proves his mettle with a near-encounter with a local cat. Baby chicks and toddlers is certainly a winning combo, but I just hope they’re careful where they step because I know from experience (though not my personal experience), that can scar a kid for life…

I haven’t looked at the manga, but I wonder if the anime will address the loss that seems to be floating under the surface for Ryu and Kotaro. I know they have each other, but still feels like there’s something not right.

For the same reason that Hayato is such a lousy older brother, I think Kotarou would be an excellent one – it’s all about role models. So it’s sad he’ll never have any younger siblings himself, but maybe imprinted chicks are a good substitute.